architects and urban designers

Freckleton Street Bridge

Location: Blackburn

Programme: 1999 - 2001

Client: Blackburn City Council

Contract Value: £4 million

The Freckleton Street Bridge represented a unique opportunity to create an iconic symbol for the City of Blackburn. Functionally it would complete the inner ring road around the city centre, accommodating four lanes of vehicle traffic, including shared cycle and bus lanes, and a pedestrian walkway.

Conceptually, the basic arch design is shifted and rotated about each axis, intersecting with the bridge deck and linked at each end to form a continuous loop of steel. By picking this element out in colour, and by careful design of the lighting, it read as an element independent from the deck, a ‘wishbone’ form appearing to float over the span. In this way, the ‘gateway’ to the city from road and rail was to be achieved.